Gary Clarke Company proudly presents its highly anticipated new dance theatre show, DETENTION.
DETENTION explores the impact of SECTION 28: a piece of largely hidden legislation from Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Government in 1988, which ‘prohibited the promotion of homosexuality’, forcing people from the LGBT+ community into a place of secrecy, fear and shame at a time when the country was in industrial turmoil and the gay community was being ravaged by the onslaught of AIDS.
Gary Clarke‘s powerful and personal working-class storytelling draws on public and private stories and testimonies, including a rare insight into the LGBT+ Switchboard Logbooks, combined with vivid choreography performed by a company of exceptional dancers, an evocative narrator, a local cast of LGBT+ people, striking designs in film, sound, light and costume and music tracks by the iconic band TEST DEPT. DETENTION is a bold and moving exploration of the violence, loneliness, protests, debates, unlikely allies and the remarkable individuals and organisations of the time.
With FIVE STAR reviews in Theatre and Tonic “A bold and unflinching production like no other!” and East Midland Theatre who described DETENTION as “From the moment the giant red and black banner above the stage drops – stark, striking, and reminiscent of AIDS quilts – you know you’re in for something powerful…The choreography is electric, furious, funny, and full of light.”
FREE Post Show Talk after the performance on Wed 08 Oct.
Gary Clarke Company – Detention: Wed 8 Oct - Thu 9 Oct
Blackpool Grand Theatre, 33 Church Street,, Blackpool, Lancashire, FY1 1HT
Tickets from £15 – BOOK NOW
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